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Metallica - Hardwired...To Self-Destruct

It’s been 28 years since Metallica released, what purists call, their last good record in …And Justice For All. The jokes of Metallica dying with Cliff or that they “broke up” in 1988 have been floating around for years. Even the record that exploded them into the stratosphere of superstardom, the self-titled “black album”, doesn’t even get a pass by the elite. While that record showed that it was ok to be mainstream and be heavy, it was a kick in the face to what are still considered four of the top metal records of all time. Shit, Master Of Puppets is arguably the single best metal album ever written. It’s the magnitude of the earlier material, which is not even a 1/3 of the bands entire career, that continues to make any new Metallica material met with a certain level of expectation, no matter how many “bad” records they put out.

Hardwired…To Self-Destruct marks the 5th outing in the post-black album world and the first since 2008’s Death Magnetic, which was universally acknowledged as a return to form for these aging thrashers. It appears that 8 years was entirely too long to wait to record a follow-up record because they appear to have lost all momentum that record brought. This record sounds like it was written for people that are old enough to have liked Metallica when they were writing their best material but thought that it was devil’s music only for the cretins that wore leather jackets and drove Trans-Ams. Now Metallica is safe enough that it’s edgy for them and they think it will help them relate to their angsty teenager, who still thinks that they are lame. While this is a very well-produced record, nothing aside from the first and last tracks, as well as the second single, Atlas Rise, screams Metallica at me. In the title track and Spit Out The Bone, you get a continuation of the ideas from Death Magnetic with a sprinkle of some Ride The Lightening. In Atlas Rise, you get a hybrid of Death Magnetic with Kill’em All. These songs still have their flaws but I can honestly say that I don’t hate them and would listen to them again. The other nine tracks on the record are a completely different story and results in utter frustration. Almost every track starts off with a solid intro that sounds like it’s going to keep up the pace of the album to match the opening tracks but then quickly nosedives into a verse that is only a step or two away from being a Re-Load throw away. There isn’t a single track within the bookends that I can recommend.

With the release of the first three singles of the album already getting airplay, I’ve seen countless amount of people posting online or saying in person that “Metallica is back” or that “The new Metallica rules.” and because of their status, people will do whatever they can to blindly convince themselves that a new Metallica record is great. However, we need to face the music and accept that anyone that is doing that is accepting mediocrity. Sure, this record is probably great compared to Load and Re-Load but those records aren’t good Metallica records. We’re benchmarking them on their worst material at this point instead of their best because it’s been so long since they released something truly great. Even Death Magnetic wasn’t a great record, it was just great compared to what came before it, and this is significantly worse than that.

James Hetfield can still riff and Kirk Hammett, who had no creative input on the album, can still solo his ass off but this is album is Metallica on life support or maybe it’s their death rattle. There is definitely a youthful energy in these songs, so their heart seems to still be in it, but the metal world, which owes them a ton of debt, has moved on. The masters have become the students but they aren’t following the lesson plan. The energy can’t muster the creativity and they continue to be hindered by a drummer that has done nothing but regress in skills since they erupted to their peak in 1990.

Hardwired…To Self-Destruct is out on November 18th, but who cares? It’s more of the same old story with Metallica. They’ll get your hopes up with a song or two and then crush your dreams with a bunch of hogwash in the middle. Just download the three good songs I mentioned and forget the rest ever happened.

Spot on review. I actually hate the album though. Age is not much of a factor in my opinion. Money and comfort is. They are too busy living perfect lived to harness the proper inspiration. Overkill and Testament in my opinion are better than they ever were. Iron Bound was one of the greatest thrash albums ever written

Spot on review. I actually hate the album though. Age is not much of a factor in my opinion. Money and comfort is. They are too busy living perfect lived to harness the proper inspiration. Overkill and Testament in my opinion are better than they ever were. Iron Bound was one of the greatest thrash albums ever written

The new Testament rules and has some of the heaviest songs they've ever written on it. Eric Peterson is still a shred machine and having Gene Hoglan behind the kit definitely helps.

Load wouldn't be a bad record had it not been Metallica. That's that "accepting mediocrity" thing I'm talking about. I fucking hated Load for the better part of 15 years and then decided to revisit it one day to try to give it a more mature listen. There are some well written hard rock tracks on it but when you consider the source, it's a pile of shit compared to what they previously wrote. I'm not saying I need 10 more speed tracks like Dyers Eve or Battery but even songs like Sanitarium, Escape, and To Live Is To Die are better composed songs.

I don't feel like Metallica owes the world anything. If they're alright with putting stuff like this out, fine.

Technically you are right and because people blindly follow them, this will sell a ton of records so there is no loss in it for them. Even when they put out Load and caught a ton of shit for it, that record still sold very, very well and people still went to see them. As an artist, you'd want to put out the best product you can and knowing what they've done in the past, I feel that they are failing themselves. They have so many "yes men" around them that they are so removed from what is relevant these days. Kirk seems to be the only one that still has his feet rooted in metal, especially after hand selecting bands like Carcass for his Halloween metal fest last year. It's unfortunate that he lost his phone that had 250 song ideas on it because he had literally no input other than solos on this record. It would have been interested in hearing what his ideas would have brought to the table.

Kirk lost at iphone with his riffs but couldn't remember a single one or come up with any new ones? Did he show up at the studio and at that exact moment realize he lost his phone? When lars and james were writing the riffs before hand he didn't notice he wasn't involved? Lies.